A flight to Europe from Australia is no mean feat for a traveller - let alone a family. So when we booked flights with Qatar Airways, recently voted World’s Best Airline, I had high expectations.

Here were the highlights and the lowlights of flying on the World’s Best Airline - Qatar Airways, as we experienced on a flight from Adelaide to Doha on June 27, 2017 - unfortunately the highlights are slim.

Highlights

Leg Room

There is definitely a decent amount of space between seats. Unlike the squash of budget airlines - or even some of the other international carriers, there is a noticeable and decent amount of leg room in between the seats in economy class.

2. Kids Packs

The kids packs are pretty impressive - as voted by our 7 and 10 year olds. There were activity packs and a mini ‘Game of Life’ board game - that although they did not play - they were impressed with! And the bag they come in can double as a soft iPad pouch - so that was impressive. The kids definitely rated the kids packs.

3. Direct out of Adelaide

Qatar Airways now fly directly out of Adelaide to Doha, Qatar, and then on to a myriad of destinations around Europe.

The Adelaide to Doha leg takes 14 hours, the beauty of this is the elimination of a domestic flight out of Adelaide.

We continued on to Berlin - a further six hour flight. Twenty hours of flying time - add to that the transit times, pre-flight check in etc, and our trip still ended up being nearly 30 hours from the time we left home until checking into our Berlin hotel.

Lowlights

1. Food​

There really was not anything to rave about the food on-board. There were no menus handed out - so there was no idea of what was coming or when - nor what was available should you want it.

In comparison to Qantas international where you receive a menu, including beverage list, have access to a pantry for fruit and snacks throughout the flight, receive hot chocolate and ice cream during the flight, as well as a personal snack pack and bottles of water to keep you going. Qatar really did not hold a candle to other international carriers when it comes to onboard food, snacks and beverages.

The kids received their “kids meals” first before the main service, which is always helpful - however their meals were exactly the same as the adults.

2. Seating configurationThe seats are configured in rows of 3 - 3 - 3 seat configuration. For a family of four this configuration always causes a dilemma. Do you split up? Travel in pairs and have a stranger in the third seat. And if you do that - do you take the aisle or the window? The alternative - which we opted for - was to take a row of three, 1 Adult and 2 children, with the second adult essentially flying solo on an isle seat in the middle row.

The adult on their own sits next to two strangers for a 14 hour flight - the other adult has 14 hours to deal with two tired children frustrated by not being able to lay out and sleep - on their own.

3. Doha City TourOne of the draws to flying Qatar Airways was the opportunity to explore a Middle Eastern City. Qatar Airways offer a free city tour to passengers in transit. Knowing this, we booked a flight with a seven hour transit time so that we could take advantage of this opportunity. However, in reality, by the time we made it to the City Tour desk the 8am tour had already booked out! So, despite booking a seven hour transit and applying for Transit Visas, we ended up spending the seven hours inside the airport. It would be great if these tours could actually be pre-booked so that you knew if you were going to fill your transit time and see the sights of Doha.

If you are wanting to get on one of the city tours, also try not to make the mistake we did by exiting the airport (as opposed to going through to transfers). We passed through immigration and exited the airport only to find that the tour needed to be booked from inside the airport in the transit area. It took us over an hour to exit the airport and then re-enter through immigration and security. On the plus side, we got our passport stamped!

So for what reason Qatar Airways was voted World’s Best Airline I am unsure. If the price was right I would fly them again, however I would prefer Qantas International or Singapore over Qatar.